NBA Officials Explained Why Draymond Green Didn’t Get A Second Technical In Game 4 Of The Finals

The NBA has an explanation for what happened with Draymond Green during Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday night. You just may or may not believe what league officials have to say.

Many thought Green was ejected with his second technical foul of the game, but he stayed on the court. It was a confusing moment for everyone, from the crowd at Quicken Loans Arena to the broadcast crew and those watching at home.

It even sparked an argument between Green and Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who actually plays a part in the eventual explanation the officials give. Here’s the official transcript of the interview officials Mike Callahan and John Goble gave with a pool reporter after Game 4.

The pool reporter asked the officials to clear up what happened on the play. For a time, it seemed that Green had gotten his second technical foul.

“When the technical foul was called on Draymond Green, we reported it to the table,” Callahan said. “The table informed us that it was his second technical foul and ejected. We informed the table that it was not his second technical foul.”

The mixup here was that his first technical foul wasn’t supposed to be a foul given to Green. He and Kerr both argued a flagrant foul call in the first quarter, and a technical foul was assessed. But officials claimed that foul should have been given to Kerr, not Green. So when Green was given a technical foul in the third quarter, it was his first and not his second ejecting foul.

“After calling the loose ball foul on Draymond Green, I noticed the reaction by Coach Kerr and then assessed the technical foul,” Goble said. “In the moment, I thought I had verbalized to the table that the technical foul was on coach Kerr. After looking at the video, I did not verbalize to the table and looking at the video I should have done a better job of making sure that the table knew the technical foul was on coach Kerr.

Callahan also said he takes “full responsibility” for not listening to the public address announcer, who very clearly gave Green the technical foul in the first quarter. The error went uncorrected until the scorer’s table prematurely ejected Green two quarters later. It’s a bad look for the NBA no matter how you spin it, as box scores showed Green with the foul and everyone in the building thought he was gone in the third quarter.

But Green was able to return to the game and poke fun at everyone for thinking he had to hit the road early.

It was just another strange event in a wild Game 4 that featured Golden State’s first loss of the postseason. The confusion only escalated the chippy nature of the Cavaliers blowout, and all but guarantees another interesting showdown in Game 5.